Disappearing or ephemeral messaging has become a popular feature on social networks like Snapchat and privacy-focused communication apps like Signal, Telegram, and Wire. It doesn't stop the people you're chatting with from taking screenshots of your chats or otherwise logging them, but it makes it less likely that your old messages could come back to haunt you in unforeseen ways. Now WhatsApp, one of the biggest platforms in the world to offer end-to-end encryption by default for all its chats, is launching a version of the feature. But it has some limitations.
Beginning today, WhatsApp will start rolling out the option for users to enable disappearing messages in one-on-one chats; admins will have the option to enable the feature in group chats. Disappearing messages should be available globally by the end of the month. Unlike other services, though, WhatsApp isn't going to offer granular options—an hour, a day, a month—for the time until messages vanish. Instead, the feature will be more minimalist. Every chat will start with the feature off by default, and either party choosing to turn it on will trigger a set seven-day auto-delete window. Your messages will be scrubbed a week after you send or receive them.
"Our goal is to make conversations on WhatsApp feel as close to in-person as possible, which means they shouldn't have to stick around forever," WhatsApp said in a blog post shared with WIRED ahead of the launch. "We’re starting with seven days because we think it offers peace of mind that conversations aren’t permanent, while remaining practica ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
